Nvidia is jumping into the Black Friday fray with a pair of bundles for its Shield tablet that toss in a Shield controller, normally priced at $59.99, for free.

The deals are only available on Nov. 28 from 3:01 a.m. to 8:59 p.m. Eastern. You can learn more about ordering a discounted Shield tablet bundle on Friday at Nvidia's Shield promotional site.

Nvidia's 8-inch, Tegra K1-based Shield tablet with 32GB of storage and 4G-LTE capabilities is being upgraded to Android 5.0 "Lollipop" ahead of the holidays. The $399 tablet is now being offered with a special "Green Box" bundle which includes copies of Valve's Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Portal, as well as access to the soon-to-be-launched free preview of Nvidia's GRID cloud gaming service.

You'll be able to purchase the Green Box bundle through the holidays, but those who order it on Black Friday will also get the Shield controller thrown in for free.

Nvidia said earlier this month that it will launch the GRID service for Shield tablet and portable owners in North America before the end of November, further promising to keep the service free of charge through the first half of 2015.

GRID cloud gaming will launch with about 20 titles available to stream and play on the 32GB Shield tablet and the $299 version with 16GB and Wi-Fi, including several titles in the Batman: Arkham series, Borderlands and Borderlands 2, Psychonauts, Darksiders, and more.

Additional games will be added to service on a weekly basis after launch, the company said.

Nvidia, describing its GeForce-powered on-demand gaming service as "Netflix for games," said the GRID preview will launch in Western Europe in the first quarter of 2015 and in Asia Pacific markets in the second quarter.

An option to launch GRID has been added to the Shield tablet's Shield Hub screen, which remains the device's launch pad for apps and both Android and PC games, as well as a portal for gaming news and shopping.

About the Author

Damon Poeter got his start in journalism working for the English-language daily newspaper The Nation in Bangkok, Thailand. He covered everything from local news to sports and entertainment before settling on technology in the mid-2000s. Prior to joining PCMag, Damon worked at CRN and the Gilroy Dispatch. He has also written for the San Francisco Ch... See Full Bio

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